Author: Andrew

Few things make more sense to me than a W123 300TD. In my opinion, it’s everything you might ever might need in a vehicle. Durability? This thing will probably outlive the majority of us. Practicality? You can haul enough bricks in it to finally build that brick pizza oven in the backyard you’ve always been dreaming about. Frugality? It gets 25 miles per gallon no matter what you do. Comfortable? The disintegrating horse hair seats will suck you right in with ease. I can go on and on about the wonderful W123 wagon, but you probably already know this. So what are you waiting for? Maybe this 1980 300TD for sale in California is the vehicle that finally makes sense.

We are offering up a 1980 Mercedes 300TD wagon. One owner blue and yellow California plate car. 233k original miles. Original owner passed away early 2016 and his family is selling the estate.

I am a amateur Mercedes enthusiast but I do know a little bit about Mercedes diesel. I have also had a very well known Mercedes Diesel mechanic look at the car. Engine is unbelievable! No blow by and purrs! Only pump diesel was used in this engine! The only thing we have done to the engine is a oil/filter change. Starts up quickly and runs down the road good. Drives straight and steering wheel is straight. Car is pretty impressive for almost being 40 years old.

Original owner was an electrical engineer and was his own mechanic on this Mercedes. All maintenance was performed by himself. Car has updated climate control which is a very big deal. AC and heat work. Everything seems to work on the car. Vacuum door locks work as well.

Overall my assessment of the car is that it is a true surviving California car. It seems to run and drive like a well taken care of car. I have put over 125 miles on it. While not a lot of miles, I just like to have an idea what I’m offering on eBay for the new owners benefit. Although a used car, I got that typical Mercedes diesel feeling that I could drive the car to New York and back and be fine. If you know these cars then you know how reliable they are. Car is not perfect and shows the appropriate wear of a 233k car. As you can see in the photos, just a nice survivor.

$500 deposit due within 48 hours. Remainder payment due within 5 business days. Shipping is the responsibility of the new owner/purchaser. Please have all finances completed before making a bid/offer. The car is being sold from Sacramento,California in Sacramento county. We have a major airport and you are welcome to fly in and drive home. We aren’t selling a restoration but we are selling a car that you can get in and drive and was well cared for. Ask all questions before bidding please.

This 1980 is one of the two years that the W123 wagon was offered (the other being 1979) with the non-turbocharged OM617 5-cylinder diesel that made just 97 horsepower and 115 foot pound of torque. This isn’t the bright spot of this wagon, but at least it’s not the OM616 out of the 240D because then you’d be better off pushing this W123 down the road. This specific wagon sports the rare 737 Classicweiss (Classic White) paint without a sunroof and even more amazingly has the fix for the notoriously bad automatic climate system. Being in California it’s whole 37-year life, I don’t see any visible rust which is a major plus seeing that’s the only thing that could possibly make me pass on a car like this. One thing I did catch with this car is that it looks like the front passenger door is missing it’s interior panel. These don’t exactly fall off, so I’d be asking questions as exactly what caused that panel not to be there.

Seeing as W123 wagons aren’t getting any cheaper, $5,800 is reasonable for a non-turbo OM617 with over 200,000 miles. It’s all about body condition with these because in my opinion, anything mechanical can be replaced rather easily with a little bit of effort and a little bit more money. I’d be more comfortable with a price under $5,000 because I’ve yet to buy a used Mercedes that didn’t need $500-1,000 no matter how great the previous owner thinks they’ve cared for the car. But overall if you are looking for a long-term that will last you for the long-haul, this 1980 300TD is a strong candidate.

I was making my rounds around the internet looking for interesting cars and was taken back when I saw the photo above. Was it some kind of European Touring Car? A 24-hour endurance car? The next thing that caught my eye was the price of a mere $5,000. Now I started getting excited. A cheap, real race car for sale in the U.S. that is ready to go?

You might of heard the story of the Colorado man who had a little affinity for Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3s. (You can read the story here if not.) I understand where this man was coming from because if you really like something, go get four more of them. In his case, the M100 powered W109 just happened to do it for him and I don’t blame him one bit. Now that all five of these 6.3s have been saved and rejuvenated, one of them is up for adoption. Unfortunately, though, the adoption fee is quite steep.

Last week I looked at a very low mileage 2001 SL500 and today’s car is another SL, although a little newer and with a lot more power. The R230 SL55 AMG was the exactly what you would expect from a mid-2000s AMG car: a supercharged V8 that makes almost 500 horsepower and just as much torque. Now 13 years and well over $100,000 worth of depreciation later, these top down monster have become very cheap. But is it worth it?

The Mercedes-Benz R129, in my opinion, is in that limbo stage where a it’s not fully a considered a classic yet, but it’s starting to be eyed up as a future collectible for the right models. In typical SL fashion, the chassis ran a staggering 12 years from 1990-2002 which saw many face lifts and engine updates. Seeing as there was a giant difference in technology between 1990 and 2002, the first R129 that rolled off the line and is a lot different than the last R129 that did. Today’s SL for sale in California is towards the end of the production cycle and takes advantage of almost all Mercedes had to offer at the time.

Earlier this week I looked at a 2003 G500 and explained that despite it being a relatively mass produced Mercedes, it doesn’t depreciate like you’d expect. Today’s featured car is somewhat like the G, except it’s a lot faster and a whole lot more rare. Enter the R63 AMG – the answer to a question no one asked. This is a vehicle which I still can’t understand why Mercedes would green-light for production.

The short of it is that the normally mundane first-general R-Class was given to AMG to let them do their thing. The result was pulling everything out of the AMG parts bin, bolting various parts up where they count and coming away with an all-wheel drive people hauler than does 60 mph in around 4.4 seconds. Carter recently included it in his insane van article for The Truth About Cars. Seeing as Mercedes isn’t totally insane, the R63 AMG was limited to a production in the mid-200s worldwide with only 30 making it to the U.S. and a mere 5 to Canada. So as these monsters hit the 10 year-old mark, what’s going on with their value?

I have an affinity for vehicles that have hit the moon milestone (238,900 miles) while looking like they’ve done so with relative ease. For this 2003 G500, it has already hit the moon and is halfway home on the return trip. I think people have an irrational fear of higher mileage vehicles because they’ve either been with been with cars that didn’t age well or they’ve been told that higher mileage automatically means “bad”. There is some merit in that the more miles a vehicle has, the greater the risk of things failing, but I believe that you get out cars what you put in them — which a few exceptions, of course.

Limousine conversions can go either way. The way I enjoy them are the factory conversions which Mercedes-Benz calls the “Pullman”, a term carried over from railroad cars that were built to be relaxed in. Their fit and finish is totally perfect, which makes sense because these cars were usually built for heads of state like Boris Yeltsin Vladimir Putin to be the ultimate in chauffeured transport. On the other end, companies have taken the standard production car, sliced them in half, lengthened them, stitched them back together then added their own interiors in the passenger compartment. These cars were mostly used as shuttles for kids to puke up their Jägermeister on the way to the prom. Today’s 500SEL for sale outside of Boston is one of those types of limousines. Yea?

Earlier this week I looked at a W124 wagon that I thought was a great buy for both the short and long term. Today is another Mercedes wagon and the successor of the W124 — the W210. The W210 wagon still sold reasonably well compared to the legendary W123 and W124 thanks to the introduction of an all new 4matic system and well, it’s a Mercedes wagon. This E320 wagon for sale in New York offers a ton of value for very little money and even better, it’s in a rare color.

The W124 wagon is a Mercedes-Benz ‘young classic’ that is loved by many near and far. Wonderful build quality, handsome styling and a very reasonable to live with everyday car are the highlights everyone knows and have made the W124 a perennial favorite. But now that the youngest W124 is over 20 years old, finding a nice one for sale is becoming a little more difficult. When you do, be prepared to pay a premium over the sedans. Today’s 1995 E320 Wagon for sale in Florida is a great example of that – but is surprisingly more affordable than you might think.

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